Plan your website BEFORE you build it. Before you tweak a template or a line of code, draw up a clear set of goals.
- Is this a business or personal site?
- Are you wanting pure traffic or a committed community?
- Is the site mainly being built to pass links or intended to attract them?
- Is the site for fellow industry enthusiasts?
- For clowning?
- For selling?
- How knowledgeable will your users be about the mechanics of the site?
- How much time do you want to spend maintaining the website?
The answers to these questions will help you make a success of the site.
Consider your visitors – your target, and try to appeal to them, NOT yourself. Launching a site with an edgy feel may not be a good idea if you’re trying to win over stodgy CEO’s, but by the same token, a default template could make you look naive to a tech-savvy crowd.
Above all, plan how to promote your website. None of the above matters if no one ever sees it! The biggest threat to your new website will be obscurity, so think as hard about promotion as you are the content and layout.
Don’t think I’m saying “slow down” – I’m saying think smart. Think it through, take some breaths and just do it.
Putting your well thought out content on an original and crisp new layout won’t make it popular. But, keeping it off makes it pretty much impossible to be popular.
In reality, websites are never “complete” but evolve and change over time. The longer you hold off getting it done just gives competitors the opportunity to fill a market, to encroach upon your niche.
